Ash Carter suspends California Guard bonus repayments

Defense Secretary Ash Carter has suspended collections and ordered a review of the process that's forcing members of the California National Guard to repay enlistment bonuses that may have been paid improperly.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Pentagon chief called the process "unfair to service members and to taxpayers."

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"First, I have ordered the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to suspend all efforts to collect reimbursement from affected California National Guard members, effective as soon as is practical," Carter said. "This suspension will continue until I am satisfied that our process is working effectively."

Carter also directed a Pentagon team to study the issue and establish a new process by the beginning of the new year to resolve the cases quickly and equitably.

"The objective will be to complete the decision-making process on all cases as soon as possible — and no later than July 1, 2017," Carter said.

At the White House, press secretary Earnest applauded the moratorium.

"The president has been pleased to see in the last 24 hours the Department of Defense make some specific commitments to ensuring that our service members are treated fairly," Earnest told reporters. "We certainly want to avoid a situation where service members are punished because of nefarious or fraudulent behavior by someone else."

The move comes after days of uproar caused by the revelation that the Pentagon had been seeking repayment of enlistment bonuses erroneously paid to Guard members, with most cases occurring in California. Numerous California lawmakers — including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein — have urged the Pentagon to halt the repayments or proposed legislative fixes.

Carter's decision to suspend the forced repayments drew mostly praise, though many of the most vocal critics of the Pentagon's actions indicated Congress may still act to make whole individuals who already paid back their bonuses.

"I'm glad the Pentagon came to its senses," House Speaker Paul Ryan said, adding, "Congress will continue to work on any reforms necessary to ensure this doesn't happen again."

"Secretary Carter’s decision to order the Defense Department to suspend its clawback of Californians’ decade-old enlistment bonuses is welcome news," Pelosi said. "However, we must work to permanently lift the shadow of these clawbacks and address the burden on those who have already been forced to return bonuses they accepted in good faith."

"Carter seems to have no plan to make those who’ve already been forced to pay back their bonuses whole, and by focusing only on the California Guard, he is ignoring what media reports indicate could be a national problem," Miller said.

"Once again, it seems Congress will be forced to fix a problem that the Obama administration created but refuses to fully address on its own," he added.

House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) also plan on including a fix to the bonus issue in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act, according to an aide.

"Chairman Thornberry and Sen. McCain are discussing how they could adjust NDAA provisions to fix this issue," the aide told POLITICO.c